Being located in an area that is zoned for industrial use, however, the company is prohibited from replacing The Pit Stop Mobil with a larger building that would include a convenience store and attached national fast food franchise.

That’s why the city is looking at adopting an ordinance that would make it possible for J&H to follow through on its plans for expansion.

“We plan to tear down that convenience store and build a nice new modern facility with more square footage,” said Matt Van Zanten, general manager of J & H Oil Co. “It’s a good location because we have great industrial neighbors we service and through traffic going by on Chicago Drive.”

The ordinance would amend the zoning code to allow service stations with accessory restaurant use in the I-1 Light Industrial and I-2 General Industrial districts. Right now, service stations are only permitted in B-2 General Business district by special use approval, according to a city memo.

The Pit Stop currently holds nonconforming use status to operate in that location. In tearing the old building down, the company would be prohibited from rebuilding without a change in zoning.

Speaking for Wyoming’s Development Review Team, City Planner Timothy Cochran said in a memo that “service stations, whether for gasoline, diesel or compressed natural gas vehicles, serve a need in the industrial districts. Their locations need not be as numerous as service stations serving commercial areas.”

Wyoming Director of Community Services Rebecca Rynbrandt said the advantage for enacting the ordinance is that those occupying industrial districts would have “expanded opportunities for fueling their vehicles, tractor trailers, etc. as well as convenience items for their employees and guests.”

The Wyoming City Council held the first reading of the ordinance at its regular meeting June 4. The final reading and vote should be held in July.

Van Zanten said if the ordinance is enacted, the current Pit Stop would be demolished and replaced with a 3,200-square-foot building that would include a fast food franchise whose name he can’t divulge yet. Fuel customers would be serviced out of a temporary kiosk for the approximately 90-day construction period, though there would likely be no convenience store sales during that time.

The ordinance would not give blanket approval to such uses in industrial districts, Rynbrandt said, noting that the planning commission would still have plenty of leeway in approving such projects. But in the case of J & H, which expects to add jobs as a result of the expansion, she added, “It’s a win-win for the city.”